An Apple and A Sea Urchin
by Alice39
Summary: Perhaps it was the hats, perhaps it was the attitudes, but no one really expected them to meet.


An Apple and A Sea Urchin

Summary: Perhaps it was the hats, perhaps it was the attitudes, but no one really expected them to meet. My idea of how Fran and Uni might have met in canon.

A/N: So, I'm a super sucker for 2601 and I saw some prompt somewhere that said, 'Write a story about how your favorite characters who haven't officially met in canon meet.' And this was the end product. I hope that you guys would like this! Please read, review and add to your favorites :D

It was a peaceful evening. Everyone has just celebrated, and the cause for celebration was indeed sensible. After all, the Arcobaleno has been freed from their curse and Checkerface, no, Kawahira-ojiisan, as well as the Vindice have decided to take the unbearable responsibilities.

Fran gazed at the scene before him. Everyone was, in a way, still asleep. Each and every Varia officers were still snoring, too drunk to stay awake. It must have been because every single one of them drunk their selves in the celebration last night.

He walked away from the scene and met with another familiar group of people and wasn't really at all surprise when he saw his 'master' and all the other members of the Kokuyo Gang, with the exclusion of Chrome, drunk and terribly wasted.

He blanched and he turned away and he mentally patted himself on the back at the fact that he made the right decision on refusing to take a drink. But of course, the only reason he refused in the first place was the fact that he was way under-age.

That and Lussuria, his appointed 'mother', will probably freak out.

Wandering without aim and looking blankly at the blood red walls that decorate the hotel that they are staying on, he continued to roam around the hallways. He minutely stopped when he comes by a corner, tilting his head emotionlessly at the side.

Finally, he saw some exits. He widened his teal eyes a bit when he noticed that the door has already been opened. Without thinking it over, the curious little boy walked out of the door.

"Eh."

He saw a girl in a pale white sundress that seemingly emanated some sort of bright glow on a small swing in a garden in the middle of the hotel. There were flowers all over her, blooming daintily and glowing despite of the fact that the only source of light was the lone moon hovering in the skies. The picture was so… ethereal. So surreal.

Except for the sore fact that she was wearing a weird and large hat.

For once, a word escaped his lips and he continued to pause in his steps, stopping at the lawn of grass. He continued to look on before he gulped and asked, "Are you a ghost?"

The girl who was supposedly glowing looked up at him. There was a bright, almost-lost shine on her soft blue eyes as she met his obviously terrified teal ones. A small smile formed itself on the girls lips as she shook her head, "…No."

"You look like one."

The harmless, blunt and almost-innocent tone in the voice almost made the girl laughed. She tilted her head to the side and asked, "Why?"

"You look weird." Fran bluntly commented as he moved forward, stepping on some flowers along the way as he neared towards her, only to stop a small distance away. There was a pause and he indifferently added, "Your hat looks weird."

"Touche." The girl amusedly commented. A small shine on her eyes gleamed as the moonlight shone right where she is and the girl politely pointed out, "I suppose that your hat isn't… weird?"

"It's not." There was almost a faint expression on the little illusionist as he answered. He unconsciously, or maybe consciously, almost-beamed as he remarked, "Apples are great."

A grin almost made it's way on the girl's face but she settled for a polite smile, even though her amusement was obvious towards Fran. She opened her mouth and uttered, "Oh."

"At least, it's better than your urchin hat." Fran commented almost sarcastically.

"Haha," A small chuckle emanated from the girl's throat and she looked very amused. She opened her mouth and gently stated, "Maybe."

"Hmm…" Fran hummed monotonously. He slowly walked closer, stepping on some poor plants along the way. As soon as he finally was near the girl, he commented, "But you really looked like a ghost lady."

"Why?" The question rolled off the girl's tongue the second time since their meeting. She offered a small smile.

"You're emanating some kind of weird glow." Fran pointed out. He met the girl's blue eyes once again and he asked, "And why would you be hanging around here when beasts are all over the place?"

He continued to indifferently prodded, "That's not normal for a living girl, isn't it?"

The girl chuckled again, daintily covering her lips in the process. After a small while, she tilted her head and asked, "Why are you here?"

"I'm not a girl." Fran immediately countered. He almost-narrowed his eyes and he commented, "And you're just throwing back all my questions right back at me."

"Am… I?" The girl answered, moving her legs in sync as she started to lightly moved back and forth in the swing.

"You are." Fran answered with an indifferent shrug. Staring at her with blank teal eyes, he said, "That's being rude."

"Sorry." The way the word sounded so sincere could have made even the stoniest people turn to mushes but Fran, the little brat he is, only shrugged a little. There was an almost blank smile that formed on the girl's lips as she looked up in the starless night sky and she muttered, "I… don't even know why I'm here."

"You must have had amnesia." Fran concluded without even showing any expression. He tilted his head to the side as he continued to explain, "It must have been the after-effects of reincarnating as a ghost."

"I'm not a ghost." The girl stated as she continued to look up, not even bothering to look at the teal-haired boy's expression. A gentle smile formed on her lips as she explained, her eyes still trained on the dark sky, "And I don't have amnesia, either."

"Hm." Fran just continued to stare. He briefly pointed out, "But you said that you don't even know why you're here."

"I don't." The girl let out a small breathe and she almost looked on at Fran with an exasperated expression as she met his eyes. She explained, "I… just kind of wandered and somehow, arrived here. I was thinking over some things and…"

"Thinking over some things?"

"Yes." The girl nodded her head and paused as if she was mulling over something. From the sides of the swing, she took a small orange flower from the sides and she smiled, "I guess… I'm just happy."

She continued to looked at the flower as she added, "And kind of sad, while I'm at it."

"Huh?" The crease on Fran's eyes showed that he was nearly lost at the flow of the conversation.

"Nothing."

"What?" There was almost a pout in Fran's voice but his expression remained as blank as ever. He looked on and said, "You're the one telling me your life story and you just completely cut it off when you feel like it? You really are a rude girl."

The sheer irony of his statement.

"Maybe I am rude," She said the statement with a wistful tone. She looked up and stared at nothing in particular as she narrated, "We haven't met each other formally before but I suppose you have heard about what happened with the Arcobaleno?"

Fran slipped his hands to his pockets and he guessed, "The strawberry baby?"

"Strawberry baby?" The girl looked at him with confusion. She furrowed her eyebrows as she mused, "Aren't you a representative and haven't you fought? That is, if I'm correct."

"Bleh." Fran monotonously blanched. He looked on somewhere and he said, "I was forced to almost die for people I couldn't care less about."

The girl's eyes widened at his sharp statement and there was a look of regret in her face. She looked down and muttered, "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Fran gazed at her. There was absolutely no expression on his voice as he remarked, "It wasn't you that forced me to fight for some babies that are overdue. It was my useless master and the strawberry baby."

"But I was one of those babies that were the reason why you were forced to fight." She looked up, an indescribable expression on her face as she looked at the teal-haired illusionist.

Fran raised one eyebrow and remarked, "But you're not a baby."

"I'm not," She said with an unwavering tone. There was a pause and she stated, "But I was cursed too."

"Cursed?"

The flower flew from the girl's grasp and her eyes followed it as it moved towards the wind, disappearing completely to an unknown place a short while after. She turned back her attention to the conversation and tiredly explained, "Short life-span."

"Ah." Fran opened his mouth. He sent an indifferent guess, "That's why you're happy? Because you're scared of death and were able to escape it?"

The girl's blue eyes widened at that, hurt and at the same time, surprised, hints of regret present in her eyes. She was frozen into silence and Fran immediately clutched his head as he felt something came up.

_Fran looked around and was surprised to see that the tooth fairies as well as his pineapple master were all around him, even though they looked older, but their attention wasn't on him. There were other familiar faces and then his eyes strayed to where everyone else was looking at. _

_There was a huge orange dome and inside it, four people resided. There was a familiar white-haired marshmallow addict and the clumsy boss of his pineapple master looked awful and sent a pleading expression towards a familiar girl with an oversized hat and a blonde guy who looked like a punk._

_The clumsy boss gritted his teeth and pleaded, "Don't do it!" _

_"Goodbye…" The girl looked up and she sent a sad and tearful smile to the brunette and she added, "Thank you."_

_"I'm ready." She blinked her blue eyes and then she smiled again, warmly this time. She looked up at the blonde who was tightly holding on to her and there was a flash. _

_And she was all gone, together with her companion. With no other trace other than her clothing and pacifier that fell on the ground._

_There was silence._

_It was broken when a regretful screamed filled the entire vicinity._

He jolted back to reality after experiencing some other scenes. He blinked once, twice. Were these the memories that the pineapple master and the fungi team talked about?

"I am not afraid of death."

The cold statement cut off his thoughts. The girl's eyes immediately softened and began to tear up as she added, "At least, not my own. But I don't want to see anyone else die."

Again, wasn't stated but the implications were there.

"Ah." Fran nodded his head and almost felt like a jerk, which is if he had any feelings in the first place. A silence passed and a bouquet of dead flowers appeared on his hand. He pushed it in the girl's hands, "Here."

"Haha," The girl smiled as soon as she saw the supposed gift. She looked up and sent a grateful smile as she said, "Thanks."

There was a pause and she tilted her head to the side, "Now that I think about it, I… don't know your name?"

"I knew you were rude from the very beginning, not even introducing yourself." Fran remarked with a shadow of amusement in his tone. He stated, "I'm Fran."

"I see." The girl nodded and gingerly stopped the swing as she gracefully stood up. She wasn't as tall as Fran but considering that they were still both kids that probably haven't hit puberty yet, their height difference wasn't all that great.

"My name is Uni." She sent out an outstretched hand, clutching the dead bouquet on her other hand.

Fran ignored the outstretched hand and turned away, walking back to the slightly ajar door where he came from. As he walked, he added, "I'm going to sleep."

Uni smiled at the sheer indifference and she muttered, tightly clutching on to the dead bouquet, "Goodnight."

There was a slight missing beat in his steps as he temporarily slowed down. He gave a small, indifferent wave and he said, "You, too."

And that was the story of how the apple met the sea-urchin. It wasn't a recipe, nor wasn't it a love-at-first sight romance.

It wasn't fairytale-like at all.

But the meeting was pure.

It was innocent, just like how angelic little children are.

That is, if Fran had ever been angelic.

A/N: This was long. I never expected it to be this long, haha. Oh well, it wasn't all pure romance at all because the characters are like 4 or 5 in the story, lol. But aren't they just cute together? Daaamn, spread the 2601 my lovely readers! I'll give you cookies if you do!


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